pondering my role in a bigger story

– Work has been quite demanding this week in a lot of ways, so not much coming out on the creative front.

– I’ll get back to posting Holy Week stuff this weekend. Still have photos from Easter Vigil to clean up, as well as some thoughts about my experience with Lent and Holy Week.

– Feeling sad tonight at the loss of a dear childhood/college friend, Gregg Fulkerson. Gregg was among the most talented people to come out of my hometown. He was an amazing, extremely talented singer-songwriter/musician who will be missed by many. My heart goes out to his entire family, especially his son, Carter. He was one of those people that I’ve known my entire life. While I love living in Colorado, it’s times like these I wish I was back in The South.

– Chances are as great as not that I’ll begin my day shoveling show tomorrow. Wet, heavy snow.

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Tonight we had our Good Friday service at House. Upon arrival, each person was given a purple tulip to lay on the cross during the time of adoration.

We chanted the psalm and did a responsive reading of the Gospel text, which was John 18 & 19. Not having much Scripture as part of corporate worship in recent years (last several months excluded), I am enjoying anew hearing the text read aloud. (Although ‘enjoying’ isn’t quite the word to describe hearing this text.)

Following the sermon and prayers was the Proclamation of the Cross and Adoration. After which people had a chance to visit the stations of the cross and scribe a response to each station, before leaving in silence.

The times of silent reflection were quite meaningful to me, yet the whole service felt very haunting and sparse without the Peace, Alleluia, and Eucharist.

Following the service, a few of us took the tulips downtown to the site of the last shooting (that we could recall) and placed them at the site and offered a prayer.

I am liking this liturgical rhythm that I have seemingly fallen into.

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It’s late, so I’m just gonna let the photos of our Maundy Thursday service at House for All speak for themselves with just a few quick details:– We did the gospel text as a narrative reading and then incorporated the foot washing and Eucharist into it. It was powerful.– Yes, those are condoms you see. We put together over 200 bleach kits for Praxus, a street outreach that is part of the Colorado Network to End Human Trafficking (CoNEHT).– At the end of the service we stripped the altar bare and covered it with a black cloth.– As people left in silence they dropped 30 silver coins into a bowl by the door, to be given to a group that has been betrayed. We’ll be giving the money to the Four Winds Native American community, who we rent our space from.A holy evening.

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Spent the day yesterday de-cluttering and cleaning my house from top to bottom in preparation for a little shin-dig last night, which ended with a spontaneous Sunday School sing-a-long. Did party clean-up around 1 A.M. Started some pulled pork in the crock-pot before going to bed. The result? A true Sabbath for me today. Not a bad start to Holy Week.

Sidenote: We discussed this briefly last night during the sing-a-along, but why do almost all of the Sunday School songs we know have to do with being happy? What is it about not teaching children about the whole spectrum of emotions? I could do several posts on my personal experience around this. The other extreme is the songs that instill fear.

By far, the creepiest one was one that Sheralee knows about growing if you read your Bible and pray every day, and, conversely, shrinking if you don’t. We would love to see our six-foot pastor do this one in heels.

The greatest take-away of the evening might be that no single denomination has cornered the market on creepy children’s church songs. They are everywhere.

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MarchPracticing Resurrection: A Memoir of Work, Doubt, Discernment and Moments of Grace, Nora GallagherWhen Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times, Pema ChodronI Thought It Was Just Me (but it isn’t), Brene’ BrownSleeping at the Starlight Motel: and Other Adventures on the Way Back Home, Bailey White

FebruaryThe Three Signs of a Miserable Job, Patrick LenconiThe Water Will Hold You: A Skeptic Learns to Pray, Lindsey CrittendenThings Seen and Unseen: A Year Lived in Faith, Nora GallagherFrom Stone to Living Word, Debbie Blue

JanuaryPost-Rapture Radio: Lost Writings from the Failed Revolution at the End of the Last Century, Russell RathbunA Year of Mornings: 3191 Miles Apart, Maria Alexandra Vettese and Stephanie Congdon Barnes To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings, John O’Donohue